Wednesday, 29 September 2010

It is easy to forget that this blog is called Vampifan's World of the Undead and not Vampifan's World of Zombies! Not every figure I review is a zombie, even if it does feel that way. Anyway, this is a preamble to let you know that this week I'm going to review two sets of contemporary vampire bikers from West Wind's Road Kill range of 32mm scale figures. The two photos above show the four figures from set GRK001 Vampire Biker Gang (A). As you can see, you get mounted and dismounted versions of the vampires, which I think is an excellent idea.

At the left is the only female vampire out of the group. The dismounted version has her armed with twin pistols (they look like Glocks to me) and a combat knife, which rests in a sheath at the left side of her belt. To me, the most striking aspect of this figure is her hairstyle, which is very weird. I'm showing my age here, but the two clumps of hair sticking up on either side of her head remind me of Deeley Boppers, a hideous fashion craze of the 1980's! I had a lot of difficulty in getting the mounted version to sit on the bike with her feet on the pedals and left hand where it should be on the handlebar. It was her left hand that caused me so much grief. In the end, I decided to have her standing on the pedals as if she has stopped her bike and stood up to survey her surroundings. The pose works well and I'm happy with the way she's turned out.

The male vampire next to her is bare chested and his face is contorted into a feral snarl. His musculature has been well sculpted. I particularly like his bulging neck muscles. This guy is Mr. Aggression all over. He is armed with a pair of combat knives. Note how the blade extends over the fingers of his right hand. I had no trouble in fitting the mounted version to his bike. You can alter the angle of the front section when you come to gluing them together. Maybe this is why I had so much bother with the female.

The second set, GRK002 Vampire Biker Gang (B) contains a pair of vampire males. At the left is a punk vampire with mohican haircut and a totally silly goatee beard. Can goatee beards look anything but silly? He is armed with just a single pistol, which he holds in a two-handed grip in the dismounted version and by his side in the mounted version. I should point out that in each of the two sets the back two thirds of the bikes are identical. However, each set contains two different front sections. Both sets contain the horned skull versions that you see in all of the photos. The second version is not so sleek looking and lacks the fancy wheel cover and large horned skull. Instead, a human skull is perched atop the headlamp. What I did was make all four bikes identical by swapping two of the front sections with those from the two werewolf biker sets that I bought at the same time as these. This helps make both groups look uniform, thus tying them together as a coherent whole. You'll see the alternate front sections when I review both sets of the werewolf bikers next time.

The last figure of the group is dressed in a long leather duster and is the best armed of them all. He is surely the leader of this coterie of vampires. The dismounted version is armed with a sub-machine gun and a Bowie knife A pistol is stuck under the belt of his trousers. His hair is long and flowing and his stance is one of arrogance as if he's daring an opponent to come and have a go at him. On the mounted version, I love the way the coat tails are flowing behind him. It gives a great sense of movement. He fitted on his bike far easier than any of the others. When it came to painting the red on the bikes I used Citadel Blood Red with Citadel Red Gore for the shading and Citadel Blazing Orange for the highlights. They looked okay, but I gave them a coat of Tamiya Clear Red, which I use for all of my gore effects, and that really made the colours pop. It also helped give them a glossy look as if they were highly polished. I love my TCR!

These are among the best sculpted contemporary vampires on the market today. I highly recommend them. When you look at the current crop of vampire minis, most are designed with the fantasy gamer in mind. These vamps are unashamedly modern day and all the better for that. I just wish there were a lot more available.

The sets cost £9.99 each from the West Wind website. My only criticism of them is that it can be a bit difficult to get the rider to fit on the bike properly. Novice modellers may struggle. Another potential problem with them may be their size. Although West Wind describes them as being 28mm scale, in truth they are closer to 32 or 33mm in scale. Not a problem for me but your mileage may differ.

Sunday, 26 September 2010

At last, the supplement that all fans of ATZ have been waiting for has been released. I,Zombie finally sees the light of day. This is the third and final part of the ATZ trilogy and it is easily the biggest, running to 130 pages. Contents include rule changes and new rules, which include phobias and quirks, fame and fortune points, buildings, bicycles, boats, swimming, horses, breakage, lack of sleep and bartering. The Lazarus Project section includes rules for two new types of zombie - ragers and smart zombies (or smarties as they are nicknamed). Also included are rules for using Big Ass Worms (of the kind found in the Tremors series of films) and psykers and psionic powers. The next section focuses on encounters and introduces PEFs (Possible Enemy Forces) to ATZ. The final section of the book is devoted to a campaign setting based in and around Lake Havasu City in Arizona. Here, you get detailed info on the area, its inhabitants, major NPCs, and how to interact with them. Also included in this section are rules for zombie wrangling, zombie racing (taken from the Dead Heat game) and pit fighting. Finally, there is a brief preview of THW's next gamebook - After The Horsemen.
I'll take a closer look at what's inside, along with my views. Most of the new rule changes are logical and worth adopting. The new Fast Move rules (roll 2d6 and add the result (limited to up to twice your Rep) to your Move value) are fine but neglect to mention those with the Athlete or Slow Attributes. I'd recommend rolling 1d6 for those who are Slow (like Vampifan) and 3d6 for those who are Athletes. The Rep limit would still apply, of course.
The first of the new rules is Phobias and Quirks. They provide a bit more flavour and personality to your Stars and Grunts and like all of the stuff presented here are entirely optional. To gain a Phobia or Quirk you roll 2d6 at character creation or whenever you gain a new Rep and add your Rep score to the total. Easy enough. But look closely at the table on p.8 and to get the best result you'd have to roll double 6 and be Rep:12! Rep:12? WTF? I know Ed said there is no limit to how high your Rep can go but I do think the numbers on this table need revising! I may use these rules but only if the relevant table is amended.
The only advantage of using the new Fame and Fortune Points rules is to make it easier to get a Rep increase. If you do use them you just might get that Rep:12 character! I don't think I'll be using them.
The new rules that deal with buildings are definitely welcome and I like them a lot. For me though, the floorplans you are meant to draw to represent a building's interior are unnecessary, given the amount of interior detail I include in my model buildings. Whilst I won't be using the floorplans, I will be using the rules. For those of you using the likes of model railway buildings, these will be a godsend. Ed helpfully provides numerous examples of building floorplans.
The rules for bicycles, boats and swimming probably won't get much use in my campaign but I do like the new rules for lack of sleep. Unless your heroes have a permanent place to spend the night, lack of sleep will be a constant threat.
The Lazarus Project rules are probably what most of us zombie fans have been waiting for. The goverment began working on ways to reverse the zombie outbreak from the start of the apocalypse. On Day 13, they made their first breakthrough. Those infected who were exposed to the antidote seemingly made a full recovery within 24 hours. Production of the Lazarus Virus went into overdrive and by Day 21 the government were ready to distribute the antidote by spraying all of the major cities from the air. On Day 22 the planes took off and discharged their payload. It was a complete and utter failure that only worsened the crisis. Instead of curing folk, it created two new types of zombie - Ragers and Smarties.
Ragers are fast and deadly in melee. They do not feed on victims but instead rip them apart. They will attack humans or zombies but not other Ragers. The really bad news about Ragers is that if you defeat one in melee combat you may still end up being infected and turning into a Rager. Nasty!
Smarties are by definition cleverer than normal zombies. They can use firearms and melee weapons but are notoriously bad shots. Regardless of modifiers they only ever hit if you roll a 6 on a d6 followed by a roll of 1,2 or 3. It works the same as Rep:3 humans who are Pitiful Shots. It is possible to play a smart zombie as one of your Grunts but I doubt if non-party members would see the wisdom in fighting alongside a zombie! Even so, smarties can be a serious threat to a party.
Next up, we are introduced to the Big Ass Worms. These creatures are the ultimate predators with a Rep of 6 and 9d6 to use in melee. It is almost impossible to hurt them because of their incredibly tough skin. I will not be using them in my campaign as they do not fit in with my vision of my campaign world.
Finally, in this section are the rules for Psykers and psionics. These seem to be a straight copy from the rules in the 5150 sci-fi game and some will say they should have stayed there. Not me! I must admit that when I think of psionics, I think of sci-fi games but I can see the merit of including them in ATZ. It is probable that I will include Psykers in my campaign at some point in the future. That is something that will more likely happen later down the line than sooner.
The second half of the book is devoted to running a campaign and these new rules are the best reason for buying this supplement. I can't stress enough how good they are. Adding PEFs to ATZ is an inspired move. These will certainly be used in my campaign.
If you do decide to set your campaign in the setting provided be aware of some important facts. First, the campaign is set three years after the zombie outbreak. Secondly, the zombies won! The human population is a mere fraction of its number prior to the outbreak.Thirdly, humanity lives a day to day existence with survival being the major priority for most people. Lake Havasu City offers a place of refuge but it is not all sweetness and light within. It is run by a cruel and despotic governor, with his private police force who are little more than thugs in armour who carry lots of guns. Entertainment is provided by Governor Newness in the form of zombie racing and pit fights between humans and either zombies, ragers or other humans.
Of course, you don't have to use the setting provided, you can design your own. The thing is, Lake Havasu City provides you with a template to design your own setting and there are rules aplenty to accomodate most folk's vision of the future. I think it highly unlikely that I'll be using the Lake Havasu setting in my own campaign. It'll be interesting to see to see just where Team Vampifan are in three years after the outbreak, assuming they are still alive!
I'll close this review with a few words from Ed Teixeira, the book's author. "What started out as a Zombie game has evolved into a post-apocalyptic game with Zombies in it. And after playing I, Zombie you'll realise there is a difference. The ATZ world will give you hours of fun at any level you want. Remember, it's your game so use as much or as little of the rules as you feel like. And yes, there will be more ATZ scenarios to come in the near future."
Well, hooray for that. I had high hopes for I, Zombies and I must say, I am not disappointed. This supplement was everything I was hoping for and more. Go buy it now, if you haven't already! It costs $25 for the book version or $20 for the PDF version from the THW website. Those who buy the book version (like I did) will get a free copy of the PDF version.

One final comment before I leave - did you see the results of the Readers Poll on the TMP Forum? ATZ:BDTZ won first place in the Best Sci-Fi Rulebook or Codex for 2009. Who said zombie gaming was a flash in the pan and dying? Many congratulations to Ed for a very worthy winner. I just look at all the new blogs devoted to this game that have sprung up this year and realise that ATZ might be undead but it certainly isn't dead! Long may it continue!

Wednesday, 22 September 2010

When I ran my ATZ scenario "Riot!" recently, I included a building that was not one of my WWG card models. It was this model - a temple that I made for Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 game. To be honest, it has never been used in a game of WH40K. It's been sadly neglected and just gathers dust. To tell you the truth, I have become more and more disenchanted with GW and their games. I'm not going to start an anti-GW rant here - they make some very nice figures and scenery but there is so much I despise about them nowadays.

This building is based on the Sanctum Imperialis model, with additional elements from the Basilica Administratum model. I bought the large Imperial Sector boxed set when it was first released, so I had quite a few sprues to play with. Most of the WH40K buildings you see using these models are ruins or empty shells. Looking at the components, I saw that if you wanted to, you could make a fully intact building. This is what I came up with. The above photo shows the front of the temple. The doors do not open and shut and are glued in place. If this had been a card model, I'd have made sure that they did open and shut!

The beauty of these models, and the Manufactorum, which was included in the Imperial Sector boxed set, is their versatility. This allows you to mix and match components from all three models, a great boon when designing something as original as this. This photo above shows the left side of the temple.

Here, you can see the back of the temple, with its single entrance to the ground floor. The base it is on measures 12" by 12," and it is mounted on a sheet of corrugated plastic. My dad is a stamp collector and whenever he sends away for a new set of stamps he receives them in a large envelope sandwiched between two sheets of black corrugated plastic. He asked me if I'd have any use for the corrugated plastic. I saw lots of modelling potential for it and so whenever he gets a new set of stamps, I get the packaging, Being made of plastic it is a lot stronger than corrugated cardboard. I covered the edges with masking tape to hide the corrugated sections. I stuck 25mm square pieces of thin card around the perimeter of the base to represent paving slabs.

This photo shows the right side of the temple, which mirrors the left side. With such a large area to paint I bought a 500ml can of blackboard paint to undercoat the model and use as the base for the walls and upper floors. A pot of GW Chaos Black holds 12ml, so God alone knows how many pots I'd have had to buy for this project. What I love about blackboard paint is that it dries very matt. I've used it a lot for under-coating many of my scenery projects.The gold ornaments on the temple are painted using GW Shining Gold and were given a brown ink wash. The walls were drybrushed with GW Chaos black mixed with progressively greater amounts of GW Codex Grey.

In this photo, I've taken the top floor of the temple off to reveal what lies inside. The hole in the floor is wide enough for me to get my hand in to place figures inside, although to be honest, it is a bit fiddly. There is a 2" wide balcony running all the way around the first floor (or second, if you're an American). I pondered long and hard whether to have the first floor detachable from the ground floor but eventually decided I could live with them being glued together. The only piece of furniture in the building is the sarcophagus that you can see in the centre of the floor. Access to the upper floors is via ladders and you can see the exit points are the two trapdoors at the top and bottom of the photo.

﻿Here are two close up photos of the sarcophagus that I scratchbuilt using assorted components from the sprues. The two sides walls are made out of mounting board with two small squares of thin card glued in place. It is roughly 2" wide by 3" long. The base is an offcut of mounting board.

When I was setting up my board to play my ATZ "Riot!" scenario I was left with a 12" square gap at the top right hand corner of the board. I was wondering what to use to fill the space when I glanced at my temple model. It resides in the dining room, where I do all of my gaming. It was a lightbulb moment when it struck me that its dimensions were exactly what I needed to fill the space. I knew that there was virtually no chance of anyone entering the temple so it fulfilled the need of being a decorative piece of scenery and at long last, it made its gaming debut.

I'm very proud of this model and I'm glad it has finally been used in a game. It'll probably crop up in my ATZ campaign again but I'm dubious about staging a fight inside of it simply because it is so difficult to photograph the interior.

Just out of interest, all of the other buildings that I made from the Imperial Sector boxed set are ruins, one of which, is four storeys high and may appear in a future game of ATZ. I do have another large intact GW model building that I'd like to show you sometime and that is a power station, whose walls are made up of the plastic wall sections that came with GW's Necromunda game. Look out for it soon.

Sunday, 19 September 2010

Following on from my last figure review, here's another new company producing 28mm scale zombie figures - Tengu Models. They are a UK based firm and I'm going to review their first three packs of exquisitely sculpted zombies. Be warned, if you are offended by nudity then look away now.

The four female zombies shown in the two photos above are from set BH02 Z Chicks. I was delighted that Tengu's first set featured female zombies, because there aren't enough out there. First up is a young woman dressed in a pale lilac dress and emerald green leggings. Her pose is a very simple one but leaves you in no doubt that she is one of the undead. Her mouth is agape, which is a nice touch. There are a few holes in her dress, which I've bloodied and a bite has been taken out of her right forearm.

The figure next to her has the look of a trailer trash girl. I love how, even in undeath, she maintains her spaced out look as she stares skyward. Brilliant! She wears a skimpy boob tube and denim miniskirt. I just had to paint her with dyed blonde hair. Note the black roots showing through. I couldn't find any wound marks on her, so perhaps she died of a drugs overdose.

Next in line is a double treat for me - an African-American female. That ticks two of the minority boxes in one go. Cool! Although she isn't in a very animated pose, that is not a criticism. Her pose is just fine and you can tell at a glance she is a zombie. Note, the slight tilt of her head, the way her arms are splayed out to the sides and how she is slightly unsteady on her feet. These are little understated touches that help instantly identify her as a zombie. Her hoodie coat has a tear at the back but other than that, she is unmarked.

Last in line is the most animated of the four females. This zombie leans forward with an outstretched arm, as if making a grab for someone. She is smartly dressed in a vest. midi-skirt and knee-length boots. Her wounds are the most severe out of this group. Her left cheek has been chewed off and she has a bite wound to her lower left arm. I'm wondering if she is holding her right arm to her side because it has been broken. It's a possibility. When you start thinking about how a figure received its wounds you know you're onto a winner!

This next set is imaginatively called BH07 No Time to Dress. The precedent for nude zombies was set by George A. Romero when he made his first zombie film - Night of the Living Dead. You'd have to class these zeds as a minority group. They may not be to everyone's taste but I think they're ace!

At the far left of the two photos above is the only male of the group. The body has been sculpted by someone with a good understanding of human anatomy. I wish I knew who the sculptor was but Tengu are keeping his identity under wraps. To be honest, his work reminds me of that of Kevin White of Hasslefree Miniatures fame, but it isn't him. This figure has been wounded four times. There is a deep cut just under his right breast near to his armpit. he has bite wounds to his lower left arm, right shoulder blade and left buttock.

The blonde-haired woman next to him does not have matching "cuff and collars," a colloquialism meaning the hair on her head is a different colour to her pubes. In other words, she isn't a natural blonde! She also, has four wounds, but they are all very small. A piece of her left cheek is missing. She has small (bullet?) holes in her lower left arm and right side of her back, in addition to a small cut to her lower left leg.

On the Tengu website, the next female in line was painted up with light brown skin. However, the way her face has been sculpted, she could just as easily be painted up as a Caucasian woman. Even so, I've stuck with the colour scheme that Tengu's official painter chose, simply because I like to see ethnic diversity. In my opinion, she is the best looking woman out of the group and her pose suggests that she is quite alert. She has been badly bitten in the left thigh and lower right arm, and has a minor wound to her lower right leg.
The final figure from this group is not totally nude, as she wears panties and socks. She is bent forward, clutching her stomach with her right arm. She has a large gaping wound to her right arm and a bite taken out of her lower left leg. I find her pose rather disturbing, as she looks like she is in agony. I'm wondering why she has her thighs clamped so tightly together? She is a terrifically sculpted figure.

﻿The final set that Tengu offered as part of its initial releases is set BH06 Boss Zombies and this may not appeal to everyone. I guess it all depends on your views about "end of level" mutated zombies from certain computer games. I confess, I am not a computer games player - I simply don't have the time to commit to them with me having so many other projects clamouring for my time and attention. That said, I wouldn't dismiss them for source material for fans of the genre. Even though this trio of zeds are mutated, I was more than happy to add them to my horde.

First up, is one of the fattest zombies I have ever seen. I think he's the bees knees! He's so wonderfully gross and his beer gut is mightily impressive! His skin under his right breast, at the left side of his stomach and on his lower right arm appears to have been stretched so tight that it has burst open, to reveal muscles and sinews. His hands and right leg are clearly diseased and bloated. I painted them in GW Rotting Flesh to highlight the decay. He is one of my all time favourite zombies. Do you know, if you ignore the diseased flesh areas on him, you can see guys dressed just like him and as obese as he is at St. James's Park, home of my local football team, Newcastle United. I shall name him Jimmy "Five Bellies," a name that will be familiar to any fellow Geordies reading this. Note that he comes in two parts, with his left hand being a separate component.

The zombie in the centre of this group sports the most severe mutation. The left side of his face and torso and his left arm have warped into something unnatural. Again, I painted the mutated areas in GW Rotting Flesh and gave it a GW Thraka Green ink wash, before drybrushing it with a 1/1 mix of GW Rotting Flesh and GW Skull White. As you would expect, he is not a one-piece casting - his long left arm is a separate component.

The naked female bridges the last set with this set. Her arms have grown so long they almost reach down to her ankles. Also, her head appears to have elongated as well. The areas of her body that are infected by odd bumps and blisters have been given a GW Baal Red ink wash to make them stand out from her pallid grey skin. I like how her mouth is wide open in a lop-sided scream. Is she angry or in pain?

Unlike the vast majority of figures, these do not come with slottatabs but integral metal bases. These bases are very small and very thin. There is an excellent help guide on the Tengu website showing how to base their figures and three options are provided. I went with option two, which involved sticking the figures to slotta-bases and filling in the slot with Milliput modelling putty, then adding Milliput around the metal base before smoothing it flat. Finally, I glued sand and small pieces of Fuller's Earth cat litter to the base to give it my usual rubble strewn look.

If I say that these figures remind me of Hasslefree Miniatures, both in terms of size and sculpt quality, then take that as high praise. These are top notch figures and I can find nothing to criticise them. Sets BH02 and BH07 cost £8.00 for four figures. The Boss Zombies are more expensive, costing £11.00 for the three figures. I was going to say that I hope they produce a lot more zombie figures, (after all, what are sets BH01, BH03, BH04 and BH05 going to be?) but when I checked their website this morning I noted there were indeed more zombies, although from a different range - 1920's style zombies. Needless to say, they're on my shopping list.

Wednesday, 15 September 2010

Four A Miniatures are a new firm who have just recently sprung up. They are based in County Durham, England, not too far from where I live. What drew me to them was their small range of 32mm scale zombies that they produce. The fact that they were local certainly helped as it meant I received my figures within 48 hours of ordering them. You can visit their website here - http://www.fouraminiatures.com/page3.htm - and here is what I ordered.

At the far left of the two photos above is a flesh Golem. ﻿However, as soon as I saw it, I immediately thought, Rager! So I painted him with Citadel Rotting Flesh, the colour that I use for all of my Ragers. It helps to differentiate them from my pallid grey skinned zombies. The fact that he is running makes him a perfect candidate for the new Rager rules that have just been published in the ATZ supplement "I, Zombie." Having read up about the new Ragers I may go back to this figure and slap a load of TCR (Tamiya Clear Red) on him as most Ragers are covered in gore from when they rip their victims apart! In fact, it's something I may do to all of my Ragers. Seeing as he was meant to be Golem and not a Rager, his right arm has been sown or grafted to his body at the shoulder and his left hand has similarly been added or replaced. I turned the stitching at his right shoulder into a cut but left the hand with its stitches showing. His muscular body and running pose make him ideal for a Rager.

Next in line is the first of Four A's three zombie figures. He is dressed in a two piece suit and tie but has lost his right shoe. There is a small cut to his lower right arm. He was sculpted by Jim Bowen, as were the other two zombies and the Golem. There is nothing really outstanding about this figure but neither is there anything to dislike about him, except possibly his height if you're a scale purist, which I most certainly am not.

Moving along, is a zombie who may have been a tree cutter in his past life. He could just as easily have been a serial killer instead. You decide. He is dressed in jeans and heavy work boots and is naked from the waist up. His upper body is well muscled and he is trailing a large two-handed axe in his right hand. He certainly looks like an outdoorsman. Rather unusually, he lacks any kind of wound, which is fair enough. There is no rule that says every zombie should be covered in gory wounds. I like this figure the most out of the zombie trio.

Last in line is a possible zombie mutant. I say possible because his tongue is unfeasibly long. He wears nothing more than a pair of trousers and his bloated body is spilling over the top of them, literally so, in the case of his stomach, which has burst open! A few pus-filled spots are visible on his back, making him an ideal candidate as a minion of Nurgle. He is a revolting figure, but I don't mean that in a bad way. He has an air of decay and rot about him. I bet you could smell this guy long before you saw him!

This is a good start to a range, which I hope will grow. The figures are very reasonably priced with the three zombies costing £2.00 apiece and the Golem costing £2.50. Heightwise, these are comparable with the Griffin Miniatures range of zombies. If the size of them does not put you off then I'd say, go for them.

Sunday, 12 September 2010

I decided to give the ATZ:Haven supplement a rest for this scenario and go back to basics with a simple Discover scenario from The ATZ:BDTZ rulebook. Although I have played this scenario many times, this would be the first time I'd played it with Vampifan and his friends. Instead of using the Discover: Who They Are table on p.41, I'd be using the new Risks and Rewards cards for the first time. I've been keen to use them ever since I bought them.

DAY 10 - ANGIE
This scenario took place in a suburban area of Mayhem City during the early hours of Day 10 just after sunrise.

The game board measured 3' by 3' and only had four buildings worth exploring - a garage, a warehouse, a general store and an office block. I did not class the burned out ruins or basketball court as being worthy of exploration. Three cars were parked at the far side of the warehouse, hidden from view from this angle and there was a van parked outside the front of the general store.

Vampifan parked his pick-up truck next to the garage just prior to the game starting. I had to roll 3d6 (1d6 per human because this was a suburban area) to see how many zombies would be placed on the board (see p.29). I scored 10. Four zombies appeared by the front door of the warehouse, two in the basketball court and one at the top end of the basketball court, behind the hoop but concealed from view by the wire fence. You'll see the other three zombies very soon.

Vampifan, Big Sil and Gap got out of the vehicle to explore the garage first, but because the shutters were down and locked in place, they would have to gain entry via the back door.

And here are the three remaining zombies, lurking at the back of the garage. In this batrep, I won't be explaining the rules in great detail as you should have a good idea of how everything works by now, especially if you've been reading previous batreps. Okay, lights, camera, action! Let's roll!

TURN 1. ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 2, Zombies = 6

An excellent start as the zombies failed to activate. Team Vampifan cautiously strode down the alleyway at the side of the garage.

"I've got these two," Vampifan said confidently as he brought his semi-automatic rifle to bear on the two zeds by the burnt out car. His first shot blew the brains out of the female zombie but his second shot missed the male zombie's head by a few inches.

"Bumfudge!" Vampifan swore at his poor accuracy.

"Hold fire, Sil," Gap ordered as he raised his Big Ass Magnum Pistol and fired in one smooth motion. The bullet struck the zombie standing by the garage's back door in the left eye and blew half his head off.

"Nice shooting, Gap," Big Sil acknowledged.

With three shots being fired this turn I rolled 3d6 for zombie reinforcements. Only one appeared thanks to this taking place in the suburbs and not an urban area as in previous encounters. Just to remind you, zombies only appear on a roll of 5 or 6 when in the suburbs.

TURN 2. ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 5, Zombies = 2

So much for the good start! The male zombie who Vampifan failed to hit last turn charged at his attacker. Being a Star, Vampifan chose to pass 2d6 on the Being Charged test and he fired once just before the zombie reached him. Although his shot hit, it was just a chest wound. The zombie went down but was still a threat.

The other zombies on the board homed in on the entrance to the alleyway between the garage and the warehouse. The female zombie at the back of the pick-up truck was the new arrival. I rolled 1d6 for zombie reinforcements but none turned up.

TURN 3. ACTIVATION - Vampifan = (4) 4, Zombies (4) 5

Big Sil and Gap moved into the garage, where they discovered a single zombie dressed in a mechanic's overalls. It seemed likely that he used to work here. I've shown the Risks and Rewards card that I drew in the above photo. If Big Sil and Gap defeated the zombie they would be rewarded with a cache of food, as shown in the bottom left corner of the card. I randomly determined who the zombie would attack and he went for Gap. Gap won the Being Surprised test (see p.44) and was able to fire at the zombie before it charged. Alas, he missed and so melee ensued. This time, Gap used his pistol as a club and he stove in the zombie's skull. For a Rep:3 Grunt, Gap was off to a flying start with two zombie kills under his belt already.

Vampifan drew his combat knife as he walked over to the prone zombie. With one stab he plunged it into the zombie's skull. Now the zombie was no longer a threat.

One thing that the Risks and Rewards cards do not mention is who gets the loot? If there is more than one person searching a room, do you choose randomly or just pick a hero? Gap could claim that he should claim the loot because he defeated the zombie. Big Sil could make a counter claim and say he found the loot whilst Gap was fighting. What to do? I decided to let the dice decide and they voted in Gap's favour. Again I rolled 1d6 for zombie reinforcements and again, none appeared.

TURN 4. ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 6, Zombies = 4

Eight zombies gathered around the entrance to the side alley. Vampifan wiped the blood off his combat knife and his two friends congratulated themselves on such a fine start to the day. There were no zombie reinforcements to dice for.

TURN 5. ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 1, Zombies = 2

The zombies began shuffling down the alley, their moans increasing in volume as they caught the scent of fresh blood.

Vampifan sheathed his combat knife and stepped closer to the burnt out car to get a better look at the approaching zombies. He fired two shots with his rifle. The first shot hit and killed the female zombie leading the group of undead. His second shot was a complete miss. Big Sil and Gap also moved to the burnt out car to join with Vampifan. Gap's good luck at killing zombies ran out when he fluffed his single shot, firing far too high.

Big Sil's Machine Pistol spat out a three round burst. He hit and killed two more zombies at the front of the horde. With 6d6 to roll for zombie reinforcements, the law of averages stated that two should turn up, and indeed, they did. Both appeared just outside the basketball court.

TURN 6. ACTIVATION - Vampifan (1) 2, Zombies (1) 4

A double 1 for Activation meant a random event. I rolled 2d6 on the Random Occurence table on p.52 and scored a 6. This was an anticlimax as the chosen event said "if using a vehicle and left it parked, you left the keys in the ignition." Handy if Vampifan wanted to make a quick getaway but not so good if someone decided to steal the vehicle.

The four remaining zombies from the mini-horde moved out of the alley but were too far away from Team Vampifan to get up close and personal. The two new zombie arrivals approached the alley entrance, attracted by the sounds of gunfire.

Team Vampifan repeated their firing procedure from last turn and again they killed four zombies, with Vampifan bagging two and his friends scoring one a piece. The Easy to Hit rule (see p.34) certainly helped them greatly! I rolled 6d6 for zombie reinforcements and with no dice scoring higher than a 3, none appeared. How incredible!

TURN 7. ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 2, Zombies = 5

Vampifan ordered Big Sil to take out the last zombie from the mini-horde with his combat knife. With big Sil rolling 6d6 against the zombie's 1d6 it should have been an easy kill... but it wasn't. Here's how the combat went. Big Sill scored three successes out of six and the zombie scored one success. Both sides rolled again. this time Big Sil scored one success out of three and the zombie also scored a success. Now both sides were evenly matched rolling 1d6 each. Both sides scored a single success. This was one tough zombie! The fight could go either way but luckily for Big Sil he scored another success and this time the zombie failed. This is the reason my friend LTL Dad hates melee combat. Even though the dice were stacked in Big Sil's favour at the start, he very nearly came a cropper! Take heed, everyone!

Vampifan and Gap fired a shot each at the two zombies standing at the entrance to the alley. Vampifan hit and killed his target but Gap missed again. Because the zombies failed to activate this turn, the remaining zombie just glared at Gap. Rolling 2d6 for zombie reinforcements, one appeared across the road at the corner of the basketball court closest to the board's edge.

TURN 8. ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 3, Zombies = 4.

The zombie by the basketnall court crossed the road to the back of Vampifan's pick-up truck. The other zombie attempted to charge Vampifan. Bad move! Vampifan chose to pass 2d6 on the Being Charged test and shot the zombie in the head before he could reach him. On his turn he took two steps and fired once at the last remaining zombie. Again, his shooting was deadly accurate and the zombie dropped to the ground with a small hole in his forehead and a massive hole in the back of his head. Vampifan continued his movement towards the warehouse entrance.Gap and Big Sil followed.

I rolled 2d6 for zombie reinforcements and was delighted to see them come up double 4. No new zombies!

TURN 9. ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 3, Zombies = 1

Although there were no more zombies left on the board I still had to roll for their activation in case I rolled double 1 or 6, indicating a random event. Team Vampifan moved to the warehouse entrance.

TURN 10. ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 5, Zombies = 2

Unable to activate this turn, Vampifan listened for any sounds coming from inside the warehouse. All was quiet but that didn't mean it wasn't occupied.

TURN 11. ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 3, Zombies = 6

Vampifan entered the warehouse first, with Gap and Big Sil close behind him. I turned over the next card in my Risks and Rewards deck and it indicated there would be one zombie in the room (thank goodness this wasn't in an urban area, otherwise Team Vampifan would be facing 5 zombies!) and the reward was Meds (medical supplies) - very handy!

The zombie would attack Vampifan as he was the closest and most obvious target. I rolled so badly for the zombie on the Meeting Zombies test (see p.44) that whatever Vampifan rolled would beat the zombie's result. This gave him the chance to shoot the zombie first, but unfortunately, he missed with his single shot. Now he was forced to use his rifle as a club. Spurred on by his fury at missing such a simple shot, he bashed in the zombie's skull with his rifle butt.

Again, I let the dice decide who found the loot and was delighted that Vampifan was the lucky one. I rolled 1d6 for zombie reinforcements but none appeared.

TURN 12. ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 3, Zombies = 4

This was such a big building that I ruled it would count as two locations for the purpose of finding loot, humans and/or zombies. Whilst Vampifan and Gap checked out the medical supplies, Big Sil moved to the foot of the stairs to check out the office (location 2).

TURN 13. ACTIVATION - Vampifan =1, Zombies = 3

As Big Sil entered the office upstairs, I turned over another card from the Risks and Rewards deck. As you can see, this one turned up with nothing.No humans, no zombies and no loot. Bummer!

TURN 14. ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 6, Zombies = 5

Big Sil reported his lack of success to Vampifan and Gap, disappointment clear in his voice.

TURN 15. ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 2, Zombies = 6

The trio of Survivors moved to the warehouse entrance.

TURN 16. ACTIVATION - Vampifan = (5) 1, Zombies = (5) 3

Team Vampifan crossed the road to the corner of the burned down building.

TURN 17. ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 3, Zombies = 4

As the three Survivors approach the store, they speculated on the significance of the van parked outside. Was the van occupied? Did it mean that there were humans inside the store? Or had it just been abandoned like a lot of other vehicles?TURN 18. ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 5, Zombies = 2

It must have been absorbing converstion as it caused the team to stop for a while.

TURN 19. ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 1, Zombies = 4
Vampifan, Big Sil and Gap arrived at the entrance to the General Store and cautiously peered inside. No one was in sight but that did not mean the building was unoccupied.

TURN 20. ACTIVATION - Vampifan = 3, Zombies = 2

As soon as Team Vampifan entered the building I turned over a new Risks and Rewards card. It showed a lone survivor armed with a Shotgun but no loot. The survivor was Rep:5 and I rolled for her and Vampifan on the Meet and Greet table (see p.45) to see if she was friendly or hostile. As Vampifan was a Star, he could have bypassed this test and gone straight to the Walk the Walk test (see p.46) to instigate a gunfight. I did not want him to do that when there was a chance of recruiting this newcomer. Both sides had to roll dice equal to their Reps and count any rolls of 1, 2 or 3 as a success and any rolls of 4, 5 or 6 as a failure, just like in Melee Combat. Vampifan gained a +2d6 bonus for having two more figures than the opposition, so he rolled 6d6 and the unknown female rolled 5d6. Vampifan scored 4 successes, whilst the female could only manage 1. They had to keep on rolling until either or both scored zero successes. Vampifan then scored 2 successes out of 4, whilst the female scored none. Vampifan had won the contest by two successes and so the female agreed to join Vampifan's team.

Introductions were made. The Survivor was called Angelina Johannson, but insisted on being called Angie. She used to part of a biker gang and got into all sorts of mischief but when a police SWAT team ambushed her gang, she was the only biker to escape the bloody gunfight. Although she was a Ganger, she now classed herself as a Survivor. Big Sil's eyes lit up when he heard she was a biker as he too used to ride in a bike gang. Was this love at first sight? It certainly looked like it!

With no resources to be found here, this seemed like a good time to end the game. Once again, the team chickened out of searching that large office block, but why risk further danger? The board was clear of zombies and whilst Vampifan and Gap headed back to the pick-up truck, Big Sil offered to ride pillion on Angie's bike, which was parked nearby, and they would follow Vampifan.

Now that Angie was a member of the team I rolled 2d6 to see what Attribute she possessed (see p.7). I rolled a 9, which was not good, as it meant she was either a Wuss (1-3) or a Runt (4-6). A further roll of 4 revealed she was a Runt, which meant she'd subtract 1d6 when in melee. Given that she would usually start with 5d6 in melee, this was more of an inconvenience than anything else.
So, onto the most important part of the scenario - dicing for Rep increases. Both Vampifan and Gap were eligible but not Big Sil, as he failed to find any resources. I rolled a 5 for Vampifan and a 4 for Gap - both had succeeded by one point. Oh, great joy! Even though Big Sil did not get the chance to increase his Rep, I know that he'd agree that he gained the most from this scenario - a soulmate called Angie. All together now - aaah!

It was only recently that I noticed the pictures that I took inside the General Store did not show very clearly what Angie looked like, so I took this group shot a few days ago to show the team together. The figure that I'm using for Angie is an EM4 28mm scale Female Biker and was sculpted by Mark Copplestone. She's from the same range as Big Sil. The logo on Angie's T-shirt is extremely rude. It says "F*ck off and die." My friend, Neil, on whom Big Sil is based, used to use the Big Sil and Angie figures as his player characters in a few RPGs I ran in the 1980's and 1990's. It was he who asked me to paint Angie the way you see her now and I was only too happy to oblige. Angie is not the kind of woman you'd want to take home to meet your parents!

Just to recap, Vampifan is now a Rep:5 Survivor armed with a Semi-Automatic Rifle and a Combat Knife. He has the Nerves of Steel and Slow Attributes. Gap is now a Rep:4 Survivor armed with a Big Ass Pistol. He has no Attribute. Big Sil remains a Rep:4 Survivor and is armed with a Machine Pistol and a Combat Knife. He has the Knifeman Attribute. Angie is a Rep:5 Survivor armed with a Shotgun. She has the Runt Attribute.

I hadn't a clue what to call this scenario, so I decided to play it and see what happened as something was sure to spark an idea in my head. It did, but I had to wait a long time for it to happen. Once Angie agreed to join the team I had my scenario title. As always I'd love your comments. I'm particularly interested in your views on who should get the credit for finding loot if you use the Risks and Rewards cards if more than one person is searching a room.

Before I leave, just a heads up to all ATZ fans, the new supplement "I, Zombie" is now on sale at the THW website. I've already ordered my copy. A review will most certainly follow soon.